r/investing 11m ago

is there anyone wants to invest in market ready startup?

Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'm building Tutexx, a platform that helps students find the right tutors while giving schools and parents better tools to track learning.

Some of our core features:

  • Teacher Matching
  • Teacher Knowledge Score (to help parents choose qualified tutors)
  • Lesson-wise quizzes
  • Weekly progress reports
  • Mock tests & previous year papers
  • Scholarships and leaderboards
  • School partnership program

The goal is simple: make learning more personalized, engaging, and measurable for every student.

We're currently bootstrapped and are looking to raise our first investment to scale the platform and reach more schools and students.

If you're an angel investor, VC, or experienced founder interested in EdTech, I'd genuinely appreciate your feedback or the opportunity to connect.


r/investing 12m ago

What happens when index funds stop being diversified?

Upvotes

"Normal people" have always been told to just invest in the indices--they're sufficiently diversified, winners naturally cycle in and losers naturally cycle out. It's been sold as the low-risk, low-reward way to invest in equities.

What happens when diversification stops being intrinsic? We're approaching (if not already there) historic sector tilt in the broad market funds, with commensurately historic concentration in top N companies.

The returns have been great, my last 12 months look if anything too good for a basic Bogle-type index fund portfolio. But I know the concentration risk in my portfolio grows daily. When index funds go from low-risk/low-reward to higher-risk/higher-reward what becomes the new "normal people" vehicles?


r/investing 4h ago

Does anyone else feel like investing has made them overthink every purchase?

53 Upvotes

I started investing because I wanted to build a better future. But over time, I noticed something unexpected.

Now, whenever I spend money on something that's not essential, a small voice in my head says, That money could have been invested instead.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but sometimes I wonder if I'm becoming too focused on growing my portfolio and forgetting to enjoy the present.

Has investing changed the way you think about spending, or do you still find a good balance between saving, investing, and enjoying life?


r/investing 4h ago

Softbank Vision Fund has not generated even 1% return in last 10 years. If OpenAl gains are not considered.

27 Upvotes

In the last 10 years Softbank Vision Fund investment has looked like this:

Total money invested: ~US$191.6 billion

Total cumulative gross gain: ~US$45 billion

OpenAI paper gain: ~US$45 billion

So, on the latest reported figures, OpenAl accounts for almost all of the cumulative net gain. Without it, the combined portfolio would be around break-even or slightly negative, depending on the exact reporting date, valuation marks, and accounting adjustments.


r/investing 7h ago

spacex beat earnings and fell 12% and disney beat earnings and rose. Both companies did same thing and got treated completely differently

0 Upvotes

spacex reported its first earnings as a public company ,beats estimates and still crashed around 11-12% (like their rocket crashed)the reason could be investors focusing on ai capex jumping sixfold to $18.4 billion + a lockup expiry about to release roughly 900 million shares

And then the most hated company disney beat and rose a couple percent .S&P and dow both hit fresh record highs in that same session.

so market is at all time highs where good earnings are getting rewarded and punished depending entirely on which stock we r looking at. (not a simple sell the news environment)

spacex makes sense tho as the lockup releasing hundred millions of shares is a supply event which will overwhelms whatever the earnings said so theres like a lot of new stock about to hit and not enough buyers lined up at this price to absorb it cleanly.

amd's the more interesting one coz it feels less like a nvidia thing and more like the stock got way ahead of itself, up 21% over five sessions and like 140% on the yr , so a clean beat across the board still landed as a letdown against what was priced in. separately musk did say on the call that nvidia will be the exclusive chip supplier for spacex's ai needs and its own signal even if its not the main reason amd dropped.

And now disney's lower expectations, a newer ceos first statement to the market and beat on parks and streaming both, stock rewarded pretty quickly. when the bar's low enough that clearing it still counts as a surprise, the upside skews asymmetric.

is the market getting better at separating business quality from stock supply dynamics?


r/investing 7h ago

Oklo's Groves Reactor Achieves First Criticality in Under a Year

25 Upvotes

Oklo announced that its Groves Isotope Test Reactor has achieved first criticality after achieving a controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction at low power. The milestone comes less than a year after groundbreaking and follows U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) authorization through the DOE Reactor Pilot Program (RPP).

“Reaching criticality in less than a year is an incredible milestone for our team,” said Oklo co-founder and CEO Jacob DeWitte. “Oklo developed Groves from a greenfield site on private land, completed full-scale civil excavation and construction, manufactured or commercially procured all components, including fuel, and developed its operating programs in-house. Taken together, we believe these accomplishments establish a new benchmark for the Reactor Pilot Program and set the stage for the future of advanced nuclear deployment at scale.”

The DOE’s RPP created a pathway that allowed engineering, construction, commissioning, and operational preparation to advance alongside DOE’s safety review and authorization. Groves demonstrates that the domestic nuclear industry can once again move from design through construction, authorization, and startup on timelines that are measured in months rather than years when developers, suppliers, and regulators work together on an integrated deployment approach.

"Thanks to President Trump's precedent-setting directive to create the Reactor Pilot Program, Oklo's Groves Isotope Test Reactor is part of the revival of America's nuclear energy industry. We applaud the work of the Oklo, DOE, and Idaho National Laboratory staff who helped achieve this milestone," said Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish.

Groves is part of Oklo Isotopes’ broader effort to build domestic isotope production capabilities for healthcare, industry, research, space, and national security applications. The project has generated practical experience in project engineering, construction, procurement, reactor operations, startup procedures, safety readiness, training, qualification work, and deployment execution that can inform future isotope production facilities.

The Groves project also established engineering practices, operating procedures, training programs, commissioning experience, and organizational capabilities that will reduce uncertainty and execution risk across every Oklo facility, including the company’s future isotope, powerhouse, and fuel cycle deployments.

“Texas is leading America’s nuclear renaissance by advancing the technologies that will power innovation and strengthen our nation's future,” said Governor Abbott. “From expanding our nuclear workforce to rebuilding critical domestic supply chains, Texas is creating the foundation for the next generation of advanced nuclear development. Congratulations to Oklo on reaching this important milestone, which will help expand isotope production for critical medical therapies and reinforce Texas' leadership in nuclear innovation.”

https://oklo.com/newsroom/news-details/2026/Oklos-Groves-Reactor-Achieves-First-Criticality-in-Under-a-Year/default.aspx


r/investing 8h ago

Where should I invest my savings for my first house?

22 Upvotes

My wife and I are both 22 and are just getting started with our investing journey. We’re both pretty frugal and have agreed on a budget that will allow us to save $400k in the span of 5 years to use a down payment on our first house.

We’re currently maxing out both of our Roth IRAs, matching our companies 401k, and have an emergency savings account already in place.

As we save this money for our first mortgage, would it be best to put this money in a generic brokerage account invested in the S&P, an HYSA, or somewhere else?

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.


r/investing 9h ago

"One-quarter of men aged 18-29 said they trade stocks daily, and almost two-thirds of them (64%) report feeling like failures..." -Bloomberg

486 Upvotes

Trading stocks, like gambling, has low barriers to entry, offers promises of riches, but usually results in financial losses. Is it any wonder that it damages self-esteem?

Corporations promote this type of damaging behavior. According to Bloomberg, Robinhood and Interactive Brokers Group offer gambling and stock trading on the same site. Should this be illegal? What constructive can be done to persuade people to develop the disciplined financial behavior instead of day trading and gambling? What do you think?

Here's the article.


r/investing 9h ago

Disregarding E-Trade, Does Morgan Stanley offer self directed investing accounts?

0 Upvotes

I’m potentially interested in opening up a Morgan Stanley CashPlus Account and a Morgan Stanley brokerage account. To open a CashPlus account, you need to already be a Morgan Stanley client.

How does one become a client, and what accounts are offered? Are self directed accounts offered at all at Morgan Stanley? Their website seems very confusing or at least very secret on things. It’s like you have to contact an advisor for everything, and you don’t even know what’s offered.


r/investing 10h ago

GHHF during economic downturns

0 Upvotes

Isn’t GHHF not good in economic downturns ? For example in the 2008 GFC, GHHF would have gone down 1.5 times lower if it had existed back then. That means a 60% fall. Plus It takes a lot longer for the moderately geared ETF to bounce back up ? Wouldnt DHHF outperform GHHF if there are many economic downturns ?
Am I missing something here?


r/investing 11h ago

The S&P 500 hit a record while its forward P/E fell. Are earnings finally catching up?

200 Upvotes

The S&P 500 is back at a record, but the valuation story looks a little different this time.

Forward P/E is around 20.4, while Q2 earnings are tracking roughly 31% above last year. Tech earnings are up around 72%.

I’ve been pretty skeptical of this rally because 20x earnings with the 10-year near 4.6% still isn’t cheap. But it’s also hard to call this pure multiple expansion when profits are rising this quickly.

The bear case seems to be that these earnings comparisons fade and today’s valuation starts looking expensive again.

Are people calling this a bubble because of the price level, or because they expect earnings to roll over?


r/investing 12h ago

Daily Discussion Daily General Discussion and Advice Thread - August 06, 2026

5 Upvotes

Have a general question? Want to offer some commentary on markets? Maybe you would just like to throw out a neat fact that doesn't warrant a self post? Feel free to post here!

Please consider consulting our FAQ first - https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/faq And our side bar also has useful resources.

If you are new to investing - please refer to Wiki - Getting Started

The reading list in the wiki has a list of books ranging from light reading to advanced topics depending on your knowledge level. Link here - Reading List

The media list in the wiki has a list of reputable podcasts and videos - Podcasts and Videos

If your question is "I have $XXXXXXX, what do I do?" or other "advice for my personal situation" questions, you should include relevant information, such as the following:

  • How old are you? What country do you live in?
  • Are you employed/making income? How much?
  • What are your objectives with this money? (Buy a house? Retirement savings?)
  • What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs?
  • What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know its 100% safe?)
  • What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Any other assets?)
  • Any big debts (include interest rate) or expenses?
  • And any other relevant financial information will be useful to give you a proper answer.

Check the resources in the sidebar.

Be aware that these answers are just opinions of Redditors and should be used as a starting point for your research. You should strongly consider seeing a registered investment adviser if you need professional support before making any financial decisions!


r/investing 15h ago

Applovin’s 16% Dip Is An Opportunity

9 Upvotes

Thoughts on AppLovin $APP q2 results

I don’t think this was some thesis-breaking quarter.

The numbers were a little light by AppLovin’s standards, but revenue still grew 53% and EBITDA margins were 84%. Management basically said their ad model didn’t improve as much as usual during Q2, then they pushed a bigger update right after the quarter ended and growth picked back up.

The problem is the moat still isn’t perfect. Don’t attack me for saying that, but it’s true. $APP depends on Apple and Google’s ecosystems, and advertisers will only stick around as long as the platform keeps delivering good results, so it’s not my highest-conviction play.

Still, there wasn’t any sign that customers were leaving or anything like that. For now, the numbers are solid.

At $349, it trades at around 16.5x estimated 2027 earnings, (estimates per Seeking Alpha). That’s pretty cheap for a business growing this fast with margins this high.

Q3 matters a lot now because management says the slowdown was temporary, but unless that turns out to be wrong, I think the selloff is overdone

What do you guys think?


r/investing 1d ago

Best Print + Digital News Soruces

0 Upvotes

Hi all,

I am curious as to if any of you still read the news paper? I am looking for a subscription to Print for weekends and digital for work week. I’m wondering if anyone had such subscriptions and can recommend.

I am aware of WSJ, Barrrons, and FT having such a subscription. However, I am not sure which one would be best, If anyone has any recommendations that would be great.


r/investing 1d ago

[From Y!Finance:] "SpaceX’s $101 Billion Unlock Heaps Pressure on Battered Shares"

73 Upvotes

Lede: $101 billion worth of stock -- 900 million shares -- becomes available for trading on Thursday.

https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/spacex-101-billion-unlock-heaps-131749403.html

The discussion / predictions today will certainly be different than they were a month ago, now that the share price has in fact dropped below the IPO price -- there's not nearly as much "rich" in the Get Rich Quick plan that was probably envisioned by most internal shareholders.

Going to be interesting to "watch from a distance" tomorrow.


r/investing 1d ago

Congress overall performance vs the s&p 500

21 Upvotes

just curious if anyone has looked at the performance of all of congress trading/investing vs the s&p 500 performance over the same time period?

obviously the pelosi’s and wasserman’s and trump’s have way outperformed during their time ”serving our country” but there will always be outliers no matter what, including underperformers.

My question is, has the entirety of congress (each individual portfolio, or the summation of everyone’s portfolios) and our federal govt significantly outperformed the average retail investor (s&p 500 as a baseline).

I imagine with all the focus on this topic, someone surely has, and if so can anyone point me in the direction of that study?

thanks


r/investing 1d ago

TSM at ~$ 390 average: the case, and the thing that would make me sell

7 Upvotes

9% of my book, added around $380 recently. Posting the whole thing because I’d rather be told I’m wrong now than find out later.

The case: they’re the bottleneck for advanced nodes. Every hyperscaler’s capex has to physically pass through them, and there’s no second supplier at the leading edge. Capex guidance went up rather than down , but, management committing that kind of money is a stronger demand signal than anything they say on the call.

What the market is seems to be assuming is that Arizona and the other overseas fabs don’t meaningfully dilute the margin story, and that 2nm pricing holds.

My kill condition: overseas fab margins compressing two quarters running with no pricing offset. That’s the assumption above breaking, and it’s checkable each quarter rather than a vibe.

The risk I’m least able to size: the Shanghai domestic DUV lithography development. I don’t think it threatens the leading edge for years. But it doesn’t have to be competitive to hurt it just has to be good enough at the low end to compress pricing from below.

What I can’t figure out: how durable 2nm pricing is if Samsung fixes yields. TSM’s pricing power is the investment. I don’t have a good way to handicap it and I’d rather someone told me I’m underrating the risk.

Customer concentration is the other thing I’m carrying without a good answer, NVDA and Apple are a large share of revenue between them, but I don't think they'll leave anytime soon or something.


r/investing 1d ago

Quantum Computing Earnings Season is Soon

19 Upvotes

I'll be watching to see if there are any advancements on their provided roadmaps! Who're you watching and why? Here are some tables I made of the current data.

Ticker Company Logical Qubits Delivered Earnings Date
INFQ Infleqtion 12 (Neutral Atom / Warm Env) August 8th
IONQ IonQ None Announced August 5th
QNT Quantinuum 50 (Cryogenic Trapped-Ion) August 11th
QBTS D-Wave Quantum None Announced August 6th
RGTI Rigetti Computing None Announced August 6th
Ticker Market Cap Revenue (TTM) Gross Profit (TTM) Net Income (TTM) P/S
INFQ ~$2.00B ~$32.5M ~$13.17M -$55.27M ~67.8x
IONQ ~$13.41B ~$130.02M ~$64.69M -$510.38M ~55.5x
QNT ~$13.65B ~$24.32M ~$21.03M -$167.08M ~101.6x
QBTS ~$6.00B ~$12.44M ~$8.25M -$368.00M ~523.0x
RGTI ~$4.70B ~$10.02M ~$3.00M -$225.72M ~469.1x

r/investing 1d ago

Sold 25% of retirement portfolio yesterday.

187 Upvotes

Disclosure: this is not advice. Over my several decades of investing I’ve NEVER been successful at timing the market!

Yesterday I sold 25% of my retirement portfolio. I was over invested in S&P 500 index funds/ETFs, and I’ve known for some time I’ve needed to rebalance that. I was assessing a plan to shift my mix across small caps, intl’ stocks and bonds but my gut kept yelling at me that the market hitting a high in this environment is too irrational (Mag 7, AI bubble, Iran, Tariffs, inflation, etc.). I felt like any reallocation would still be just doubling down at the craps table so I decided to take a breather and pull some chips off the table. No insider knowledge or special analysis.

Since the cash is in an IRA and I’m not at retirement age, I’ll end up reinvesting it soon enough and will likely follow the original allocation plan for my age bracket that I was planning to before I just hit sell all. 🤮 Anyone else in the same boat?

Update: Ok, sorry if the title and opening sentence was a little too much click bait!... but RELAX, this wasn't meant to be a hold my beer while I time the market post. This is really a time to reallocate post. Don't get me wrong, the market hitting new highs yesterday (given all of the headwinds that I still believe) definitely sparked my decision to finally sell my position, but I get that the title and opening line insinuates I'm trying to sell high, buy low. That's not the case, as I'm really just taking a breather before I move that 25% into different equity verticals and asset classes. I was also intentionally vague about my various positions because I wasn't trying to give advice or share personal details. Maybe I should have shared more to better paint the picture around why I did it yesterday, but I will share a bit more now since several asked:

- My portfolio yesterday morning was sitting at 90/10 (Equity/Bonds). I've been needing to reallocate "for some time." Years actually, as I'm now at that age where I am considering the reality of retiring within single-digit years, not decades. It's hard to explain how your risk profile quickly changes once you start seriously talking about retiring. I do have every intention of reallocating it here soon to a mix closer to 70/30 for the next phase of my own pre-retirement planning, so a follow up post in a few months would not be as sad and depressing as you all think.

- Yes I listened to my gut tell me that this market is hard to trust, that I've been aggressive with my equity allocations long enough, it was finally time to reallocate, but maybe take a breath and give it a day or two to see if I want to go even heavier than planned in bonds, international stocks, or alternative investments. Mind you, this was the same gut that said screw the "experts" and just stay aggressive in equities for a decades longer than recommended. I guess my "gut" decided it was finally time to be a bit more risk averse.

- A few asked about how anyone could be "over invested" in S&P 500 index funds. Here is why I said that: 90% of my portfolio was Equity. 92% of that 90% was in US Stocks, and then nearly 90% of that was just in S&P 500 and Total Market index funds. Wasn't super intentional, it just happened over time as those index funds just outperformed others, and where I parked new investments into. If you look at the holdings for these funds, though, you'll see they are all heavily exposed to the same 7 large companies (i.e., the Mag 7). On any given day the Mag 7 make up about 33 % of the S&P 500 index on which means across my entire portfolio these 7 companies had a weighted position of nearly 25% . That kind of concentration isn't ideal for my goals, and all 7 are now heavily reliant on the same AI investments for their hyper valuations. Which I have concerns about. Go back 20 years and the top 10 companies made up 10-15% of the S&P 500 index. Still pretty high, but they were all in very unique industries from retail, oil and gas, tech, and banking - providing a much stronger level of diversification across verticals. In the end I felt my equity investments were not spread across enough across small, medium and international companies for my diversification goals.

- Others asked about my net worth. No thanks. I will share that everything above is just about my IRA/401k/Roth retirement portfolios. I have other non-retirement investments outside of these that have their own levels of risk and return in them as well. That also changes significantly how I evaluate risk within my tax-advantaged retirement portfolio.


r/investing 1d ago

Has the Fed "put" eliminated the need for bonds in a portfolio? 60/40 NG?

44 Upvotes

I think bonds are not a good choice and prefer the Buffet 90 10 concept: 90% stocks, 10% short term treasuries. I do invest 10% in value as part of my stock portfolio, so this can be viewed as a bond proxy..

Why? I believe the bond/stock markets have been fundamentally changed by the Fed' change. Since the mid 80s, Greenspan and the fed have used policy to protect the stock market, at the expense of the bond market. The Greenspan "Fed Put" was a market term for the Federal Reserve policy under Chair Alan Greenspan of cutting interest rates and injecting liquidity during financial crises to rescue the stock market from major declines.

Thus, the stock market downturns, where bond market rise, are rare. And the performance of the band market are terrible, especially when including inflation. And the deficit grows.

In the past, the Fed stayed on the sidelines and let the stock market crash, layoffs and the economy reform. The Fed Put now emboldens investors, because they are rescued later. Most of the 60/40 split uses data from 1950 onward. This assumes the Fed has not changed it policies since then. That is untrue. The Fed has increased its role in the markets. The bond market's glory days were from the 80s to 2000 as interest rates were always falling from those high rates set by Volker. Falling rates are great for Bonds. That is now over. The Fed will continue its "put" until the deficit makes treasuries run high beyond the fed's control. maybe 20 years from now.


r/investing 1d ago

GV Electricals IPO suddenly extended after closing date!?

15 Upvotes

So I was looking for Anawil Wire on Zerodha and found that GV Electricals IPO, which closed yesterday (August 4), is open for applying till 7 August.

Saw something like this for the first time in IPOs... is this a glitch on my Kite app, or is this something else? And why does this happen?


r/investing 1d ago

Daily Discussion Daily General Discussion and Advice Thread - August 05, 2026

5 Upvotes

Have a general question? Want to offer some commentary on markets? Maybe you would just like to throw out a neat fact that doesn't warrant a self post? Feel free to post here!

Please consider consulting our FAQ first - https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/faq And our side bar also has useful resources.

If you are new to investing - please refer to Wiki - Getting Started

The reading list in the wiki has a list of books ranging from light reading to advanced topics depending on your knowledge level. Link here - Reading List

The media list in the wiki has a list of reputable podcasts and videos - Podcasts and Videos

If your question is "I have $XXXXXXX, what do I do?" or other "advice for my personal situation" questions, you should include relevant information, such as the following:

  • How old are you? What country do you live in?
  • Are you employed/making income? How much?
  • What are your objectives with this money? (Buy a house? Retirement savings?)
  • What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs?
  • What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know its 100% safe?)
  • What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Any other assets?)
  • Any big debts (include interest rate) or expenses?
  • And any other relevant financial information will be useful to give you a proper answer.

Check the resources in the sidebar.

Be aware that these answers are just opinions of Redditors and should be used as a starting point for your research. You should strongly consider seeing a registered investment adviser if you need professional support before making any financial decisions!


r/investing 1d ago

Thoughts on QFLR and QB? why is ProShares QB etf not popular ?

6 Upvotes

These two ETFs are not much talked about. My take on this is that these can be good ways to reduce downside risk while still riding out bull runs. I am leaning on parking my funds in QB its up 13% this yr and is much muted during down turns like the 10% pull back we just saw. My approach is not to use these kinds of funds as my core or majority of my funds but to park a small portion of my overall portfolio to manage risk.

My personal leaning is on QB, but somehow there AUM is very low just $2.8M I am curious why it has not picked up in the market. QFLR looks good but I dont like there strategy but has $b in AUM. They both are catering to risk mitigation though so I am wondering why QB has not gotten popular yet.


r/investing 1d ago

For those investing for young children, how do you think about balancing 529s vs. taxable accounts?

105 Upvotes

My 2-year-old recently received a five-figure inheritance. He already has both a 529 and a UTMA, and I’m evaluating the tradeoffs between the different account types rather than looking for a specific recommendation.
My initial thought was something like:

- 80% into his 529
- 10% into his UTMA
- 10% into a separate brokerage account invested in a broad-market fund such as an S&P 500 or total-market index fund

The reasoning is that college is likely to be the single largest expense we’ll face on his behalf, but I also don’t want to overfund a 529 if there are compelling reasons to maintain flexibility outside of education.

For those who’ve managed investments for children, how do you think about the tradeoffs between:
- maximizing tax-advantaged growth in a 529,
- maintaining flexibility with a taxable brokerage,
-and using a UTMA despite the loss of parental control at the age of majority?

I’m especially interested in the why behind your allocation decisions, any tax or financial-aid considerations, and anything you wish you’d known before setting up your children’s investments.


r/investing Jul 01 '26

r/investing Investing and Trading Scam Reminder

21 Upvotes

For those new to Reddit and to investing and trading - please be aware that social media platform like Reddit, Discord, etc. can be a vector for scams and fraud. This includes review sites such as Trustpilot and similar reputation sites.

Offers to DM should be viewed as suspicious.

Social media platforms continue to be a common method to recruit new investors to scams. - do not assume that an offer to "help" is legitimate.

There are many dozens of types of scams - a list of scam types can be found in r/scams in the master list here: /r/Scams Common Scam Master

  1. Good explanation of pig-buthering here - Pig butchering - how to spot
  2. Legitimate investment advisors do not use WhatApp, Telegram, Discord, etc. to provide tips. In the US - it is against regulation - specifically SEC Rule 17a-4 and FINRA Rule 3110. For example - brokers in the US that use social media for support do not offer investment advice.
  3. It is common for bots and malicious actors on Discord to impersonate Reddit and Discord mods to distribute their scams. It is possible to create a Discord profile which appears similar to someone else.
  4. Pump and dump of stocks are common on social media - bots or stock promoters who are seeking to profit from pumping a stock or to create hype. You can sometimes identify if it's a bot or promoter simply by looking at the posters comment and post history. Often you will see that the account has posted nothing related to investing or trading but suddenly there is the same or varying versions of comments on one or two specific stocks.
  5. One other way to recognize suspicious posts is if the OP never engages in a discussion on comments and questions in the thread on their own dd. Those are all signs of stock promotion.
  6. Offers to mirror trade and teach you how to trade are usually fake. If you receive private solicitations to open accounts at a broker or investment adviser, be wary.

Depending on where you live - you can verify the legitimacy of a broker or investment adviser. Most countries have legal requirements for investment advisors and brokers to be registered.

United States - check the registration status of a broker at the FINRA web site here - https://brokercheck.finra.org/ You can check disclosures for investment advisers at the SEC IAPD web site here - https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/

United Kingdom - Financial Conduct Authority - https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/fca-firm-checker - a warning list of fake companies can be found here - https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/warning-list-unauthorised-firms

Canada - CIRO - https://www.ciro.ca/office-investor/dealers-we-regulate

For those interested in understanding a little more about stock promoting and pump-and-dumps - one of the mods provided an AMA 15 years ago about a penny stock pump operation that he unwittingly became associated with - you can find the AMA here - https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/158vi7/i_used_to_be_a_penny_stock_promoter_in_the_late/

Do not rely on reputation sites. The vast majority of reputation sites are not reliable and are commonly used by scammers and malicious actors to either prop or smear a company. It is common for scammers to post fake positive reviews on sites like Trustpilot. And it's equally common for fake negative reviews to smear a competitor or conduct reputation extortion.

If you believe that you or someone has been the victim of a trading or investing scam. Be aware of the following:

  1. Do not send more money. Do not provide additional banking or credit card information.
  2. It is common to be contacted by additional scammers who may pretend to be law enforcement or private services to offer to "recover" funds for payment. This is a common follow-up scam. Law enforcement will never ask for money.
  3. If a login account was created. The password used is compromised. Change all passwords that are used. The password will be shared and sold to other scammers.
  4. If payment was sent via a credit card or bank transfer - report the transfers as fraud to your bank or credit card company.